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Posted on 07/09/2008 6:34:02 PM PDT by Vision
NEW YORK -- Evan Wright had no idea what he was getting into when he was assigned to travel with the Marine’s 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in the first weeks of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
When Wright, then a correspondent for Rolling Stone, was picked to ride with the special forces unit, the other reporters gathered at the Kuwait Hilton to find out where they would be embedded "looked at me with sheer hatred and envy," he said.
"I didn't know what 1st Recon was, but if all of these reporters look so jealous, it must be a good spot," Wright recalled thinking.
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Showtime.
Not surprised to learn the American hating Ed Burns is heavily involved.
HBO should be ashamed of themselves.
Those marines are my kind of guys.
Rent “Deadwood” the best series HBO has put out, be warned of VERY salty language.
Ed Burns, Mr. anti American himself is all over this series.
We have HBO as part of the digital cable movie package. That said, HBO has been totally controlled by raging libs for the longest time. If we could cancel part of our subscription a la carte-style HBO would be the FIRST thing to get the ax. 95% of their original stuff is leftist propaganda. They use the other 5% to try to make themselves look evenhanded, but it’s just a sham.
I heard plenty of talk like that when I was in the army 35 years ago. Some things don’t change with time.
No doubt all of those elements exist to some degree. But to make the USMC seem like a chaotic psychotic circus with barely any direction is propaganda IMO. And it’s exactly what the left thinks of the military- as they sit in their million dollar homes in Chevy Chase marinating in their little ego centric worlds.
What I saw cut close to the bone.
The division commander has a moustache contest, but the sergeant major has his own agenda. The battalion commander realizes the division commander's contest came at the wrong time. Now it's time to fight. (I've seen that kind of screwup before.)
An espresso maker blows up and destroys a radio battery. The platoon leader lies to protect his men. The battalion commander knows the lieutenant is lying and humorously suggests handing out decorations. (As a junior officer, I was involved in stuff like that.)
The marines go into combat without sufficient tools of the trade or even sufficient maps. (The same thing happened in Grenada in 1983.)
While the guys are waiting for combat, they read skin mags and regard a man who wrote for Hustler as "greatness in the room". (I've seen plenty of that in real life. Nothing is as nerve-wracking as waiting for the actual fight.)
One marine, highly keyed up before the fight, expounds on the Pussy Theory of History at great length. (I heard plenty of that, and that marine had an accurate diagnosis of some of the ills of Islamic society.)
Lighten up. These guys struck me as the real deal.
No I’ve never served. But the Marines I’ve met have a love a respect for the Corp and the guys last night seemed to be trapped in their situation or are “fighting for the white race.”
Give me a break.
Let me add another screwup.
The marines want to smoke the guys in the white trucks with red diamonds, but their orders are not to engage. They're angry. Later they find that the guys in the white trucks were Republican Guard death squads -- the worst of the worst -- and were eminently worthy of being smoked.
Clausewitz said, "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." This was a classic case.
The white race guy is a hispanic who says it more than once.
It’s over the top and doesn’t develop any of the humanity of the Marines.
I think you’re referring to the movie star Ed Burns? The “Generation Kill” Ed Burns is a Vietnam infantry vet and retired police homicide detective. He and David Simon, the other guy behind Generation Kill, also did “The Wire” together.
Ahh too many different Burns. Ken Burns ;)
You’re right.
The filming and production quality of the show was very good IMO. I have never served in a war zone, but have been around enough to know the events portrayed we very close to reality.
The military is a government operation. There are going to be monumental screw ups, some of which will ultimately cost lives, which is tragic. The real character and strength of our military becomes apparent when the battle starts and those in battle are allowed to determine the outcome.
My guess is what we will see as this series goes on is the tragic results of a war being waged by politicians and bureaucrats. It is the problem I have had with all the “wars” since WWII. If we put the life of one soldier at risk, we should be prepared unleash the total hell that is the US armed forces and win whatever it is we’re fighting for.
I agree that the book was really a pretty good read, heavy on the action, light on the political. The line “Vote Republican” had me laughing out loud when I read it.
A lot of these effete ivy league journo types were stricken with testosterone envy at the beginning of the war and the embed process. Most had never been around military types and they viewed them as some type of socialogical study (why would these men choose to live this life? Good grief! They’re physically active! And some have attended college!). The usual biases against those who serve were evident (no choice, no school, no talent, etc) and were severly challanged by the facts on the ground causing the wimps to questions their own value system.
I suspect Wright suffered from some of this.
“I suspect Wright suffered from some of this.”
Yeah I heard him on a radio interview talking about how he’s a lefty anti war type, but he couldn’t get over the sacrifice, professionalism and bravery of the Marines.
They were....shock....more than high school drop out knuckle draggers!
In fact he noticed that the college educated officers were the real dopes and the enlisted made things really work.
Interesting.
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